The Intercontinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco has notified hotel guests that a  July 4th, 2013 security incident may have permitted unauthorized access to their personal information.  Potentially compromised information includes credit card numbers and debit card numbers, as well as names, addresses, and phone numbers.

The hotel general manager advised guests that, ” we have undertaken extensive forensic and other steps to address this incident [and] we remain committed to protecting the information that you have provided to us.”

This latest incident reveals the ongoing security threats faced by the hospitality industry to ensure payment card security for hotel guests.  Payment card industry (PCI) compliance to help prevent and to mitigate security breaches can be achieved through a strong PCI compliance program and PCI compliance training for key hotel employees.

The Venza Group has partnered with Arnall Golden Gregory (AGG) to create a series of interactive eLearning modules to address PCI compliance in the hotel industry. Management, employees and IT are taught about the requirements they must support as part of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.  The Venza Group also is partnering with AGG to create an interactive eLearning module to train hoteliers on general privacy and security awareness issues.

Link: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/InterContinental%20Mark%20Hopkins%20-%20Notification%20Letter_0.pdf?